Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Last May, I was having lunch in the new courtyard at Nickelodeon (where I work) with writer Andrew Blanchette. There were some guys sandblasting cartoon characters into the concrete benches. Working in the midst of them was a model-pretty woman - not the type you would cast in a blue-collar role, unless it was a "Flashdance" remake. I told Andrew. "We need to go talk to her."

"We need to go talk to her."

And so we met Tara Tarrant, owner of LaJolla Stone Etching. She was
putting the finishing touches on a very impressive Ninja Turtles etching
that wrapped around a bench. So how does a gal like her find herself sandblasting for a living?
Tara gave FLiP the scoop:

"I
come from a long line of artistically gifted individuals, mainly on my
mothers side. My grandmother and mother are amazing oil painters and my
mother is a muralist as well. I believe I must have picked up any
artistic talent that I possess from these amazing and talented
women. I do not have any formal art schooling, but I have always loved art and being creative. It's in the blood!"

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Last month, FLiP's very own Alex Williams won The Cartoon Art Trust Award for Strip Cartooning for his "Queen's Counsel", which has run in The Times of London for the past 25 years. This is a huge honor, the comics equivalent of a BAFTA Award. Alex is typically modest about it, saying, "Actually I felt a bit unworthy about the whole thing."

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Xeth Feinberg, the mad genius behind "Bulbo" and "Papu" tells FLiP about a new venture with his old band, The Prefab Messiahs. It's a new song and animated video called "The Man Who Stole Reality". FLiP approves of this message.

FLiP: Who the heck are the Prefab Messiahs?

Xeth: I like to think of THE PREFAB MESSIAHS as an audio-visual collaborative art project. It seems more respectable and 'sensible' that way.

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Immediately after the November election, I was contacted by Carolyn Bates, a long time friend and colleague. She wanted me to create a public service announcement for a grassroots organization called Our Next 4 Years (ON4Y). I wrote, designed, voiced, and animated a piece called "Make Cheese, Not Walls". Enjoy!

I asked Carolyn some questions about Our Next 4 Years.....

1.What is ON4Y and how did it come to be?

Our Next 4 Years is an all volunteer organization of almost 300 animation
professionals. We are partnering
with progressive organizations in order to create animated PSA’s that can counter
the regressive policies of the current administration. Our group’s members include Oscar,
Emmy, Annie and Humanitas award winners and nominees from studios big and
small.

Following
the election, producer / director, Mike Blum of Pipsqueak Films, reached out to
me and broached a grand idea. Mike was motivated to action after reading a
fervent Facebook post by his animation supervisor, Ramiro Olmos. Ramiro wanted to lend his animation
skills to help support progressive causes and create change. Mike has tremendous creative & organizational
skills and a good dose of chutzpah to make that happen.

I first met John when I was just 16, when I used to tag along with my sketchpad at the life drawing classes that he taught at my father's old animation studio in Soho Square, and later at "The Diorama" Arts Centre in Regent's Park.

John wouldn't just tell you how to improve your work - he would sit down and show you how to make it better. Anyone who attended his class took home his drawings - on the corner of the page, mocking your own unskilled efforts, and encouraging you to do better.

At the time I thought all art teachers did this. It was only later that I found out how few teachers have the confidence and ability to personally correct their students' work. John knew he was better than the rest of us put together, and he didn't hesitate to show you where you had gone wrong.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Erin K and animation Producer Nathan Erasmus have just released their new video "Assholio", described as a "classic fairytale - classic as in 1600’s nightmarish and disturbing fairytale". And, of course, "who doesn’t want to see a unicorn pig?" The end result is "somewhere in between a super detailed animatic and a simplistic animation; kind of an "anti-mation".